Linda
I received an ARC of this novel and would like to say thank you to the publisher, the author and Netgalley. This was an amazing 5 star read!
Maddie is living with her Aunt Ruthie and her daughter Lyla. Her husband Adey disappeared into the night 7 years ago and is presumed to be dead. Ruthie is a senior citizen and need Maddie to be her caregiver as she has problems with her sight and her breathing.
One night a man shows up at the door and wants to talk to Ruthie. He was adopted by a man that Ruthie had a long time affair with and when he died, the family found all of these love letters from Ruthie.
The story continues with how this affects both families and the connection between them.
This was a lovely story with wonderfully complex characters and storylines. Since it takes place around Christmas there are also lots of lovely Christmasy feels in it as you discover all the Christmas traditions in this quaint village.
I'm looking forward to reading more of this author.
When Fred (Winifred) Page goes to Estes Park to take possession of a taxidermy shop, she gets more than she bargained for. Her mother and stepfather owned the shop, but when the person renting it dies, they ask Fred if she wants to move home and turn it into a book store.
She and her corgi, Watson, arrive in town and after speaking with some neighbours, and getting Watson a dog cookie, they check out the shop. Fred is thrilled that it appears all of the taxidermied animals have been removed, but when she goes upstairs she discovers another problem, a dead body in the kitchen.
This story has some great characters and quirky small town vibes.
Bittersweet story about actress Ruth Marshall and her struggles and triumphs after being diagnosed with a tumour and having to deal with the consequences of that.
There are so many things we take for granted in our day to day life; using the bathroom, standing, walking, knowing where our limbs are and having control over them. When something happens to put that all at risk, we are left floundering. Ruth Marshall tells a compelling story as she deals with all of that and more.
Tedi runs the local inn in Ravenmist, the most haunted town in the area. She has never seen a ghost, but she is sure they exist.
As Halloween approaches she sets up a fun festival for the town and everything is going well, until one of her guests is found dead, face down in the apple bobbing station.
The local sheriff is from Chicago and believes everything is dangerous and no one is to be trusted. He also seems to believe that he needs to check on Tedi multiple times a day.
This is a sweet cozy mystery with a little romance, a good mystery and lots of ghostly fun.
Thank you to NetGalley, the authors and the publishers for an ARC of this novel.
This is the latest book from James Patterson and it's terrific. Three people with the last names of Holmes, Marple and Poe have started an PI firm and they are solving crimes and generally showing up the police commissioner. There is one officer, Helene Gray, who is interested in what they are doing and they work together somewhat. She is suspicious of them though as there are no signs that they existed before this. Who were they before they went public with their PI firm?
Like Helene Gray, there are a few secondary characters that are also interesting. They have an assistant that is very efficient and likeable, a cat and by the end of the novel, a dog. So it's also about the “family” they are creating and the community they are in.
The cases that they work on are compelling, and the characters are multi-layered and all have their own demons to deal with. I thought it was really solid work, well written, and I hope that we'll get more novels about the firm and their next cases.
Eleanor Wilde is a medium, but really she doesn't even believe in ghosts. She is a good fake, however, and feels she is helping families to move on, for a price.
She is looking after her sister, who is in a coma and medical care isn't cheap. Her brother, however, doesn't approve of her methods and when Nicholas Hartford III comes to hire her, he isn't happy about it.
Nicholas knows she's a fake, but he doesn't care. His mother believes there is a ghost in their family home and he is hiring her to get to the bottom of it.
It turns out there is a lot more going on at Castle Hartford than she realizes though and she may be in for more than a fake medium can handle.
This was a fun read with some well thought out characters and lots of spooky twists and turns.
Thank you to Donna Andrews, her publisher and Netgalley, I received this as an ARC. This is my honest review.
This book was incredible. It's the latest in the Meg Langslow series and I loved it! Meg is preparing for Christmas and her friend Ragnar is using his property for a Swordsmithing Competition called Blades of Glory. Meg's friend and smithing mentor Faulk is going to be part of the competition.
Faulk gets attacked and has to bow out of the competition and reluctantly Meg steps into his place. She is trying to figure out who attacked Faulk when someone is murdered. Now she's trying to solve both mysteries. Was it the same person, or two different people?
The Christmas vibes with this one are terrific. They are hosting this event in a castle and the host Ragnar loves everything Gothic, so the decorations are Christmas Gothic and they sound so fun. There are also feasts, sledding, snow, gingerbread houses and more. Having Meg's husband and sons at the castle makes it even more fun.
Lucy Swift goes to visit her grandmother, but when she gets there she finds out her Grandmother has died. Lucy invherits her grandmother's knitting shop, Cardinal Woolsey's.
Then it turns out that Gram was murdered, but isn't really dead, she is undead and has been turned into a vampire.
Now it's up to Lucy to figure out who killed her grandmother and why. The only problem is she doesn't know who to trust, including her Gram's vampire friends who have their own knitting club.
This book was awesome and I'm really looking forward to reading more in the series and getting to know more of the characters in the book and their back stories as well.
April has an ex-boyfriend who is dead, but she can see his ghost and the ghosts of the chickens that he ran into with his motorcycle. She goes to stay with her aunt to help run her cafe in Wales. Soon she finds out that she can not only hear ghosts, but she comes from a magical family.
The town has lots of fun characters and they are all trying to discover who killed a famous cricket player. April has seen his ghost and he tells her he was murdered.
I liked the interaction between the characters except for April and her familiar. I didn't care for that part of it, but the rest of the story was good.
Victoria is a plant witch and is sent to Ireland to learn from the coven there. She becomes involved in a murder there when her mentor's grandson is accused of murder. It turns out it's much more complicated than anyone thinks.
The small town magical vibes are awesome and there are lots of fun characters, cozy shops and different magical creatures. She also has a familiar named Simon who is looking out for her even when he doesn't seem to be.
It was really well done and I give it 5/5 stars.
I received an advance reader copy of this book from NetGalley. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and Eileen Brady for the opportunity to review it. This is my honest review of the book.
I had never read Dr. Kate Vet Mysteries before, although this is the 3rd one in the series. It was wonderful to read a cozy mystery where the main character has a unique job. I was fascinated learning about the ins and outs of a vet practice and the quirkiness of pet owners.
The characters in the book are fleshed out well and I really enjoyed getting to know them. I didn't feel lost because I hadn't read the first two books, which was nice. I will be going back to read them now though.
Dr. Kate is filling in at the vet practice while the owner is away on a cruise. Her receptionist Cindy and her assistant Mari have been there a long time and know all the people in the small town. Cindy is the police chief's sister in law so she also has the inside track on any information. So when someone is murdered, Dr. Kate often goes to her for information on what the police think. She also has a close relationship with her Gramps and he is great for coming up with new ideas that she hasn't thought of.
I thought the mystery was interesting and not easily solved, the characters were fun and engaging and I now have a whole new respect for my vet. I can't wait to read more from Eileen Brady.
I received an ARC for this through Netgalley, the publisher and the author Nita Prose. Thank you to all of them. This book is a sequel to The Maid and follows Molly the Maid on another adventure at the Regency Grand Hotel. It has all the same characters in it that we loved in The Maid and a few new ones. In this novel, a famous novelist comes to the Regency Grand to make an announcement, but he is killed before he has a chance to do so.
Molly has a connection to this man from her past, and the story goes between the past and the present. Although the story is great, I didn't find it as engaging as the first one. The last half of the book was wonderful and makes it all worth while, but I did find the first half dragged a little as we learn more about Molly as a child. Overall though, another good read from Nita Prose and I give it 4 stars.
Ashley McDonnell is a witch, a Dr. and in charge of Washington Medical, a hospital for paranormal creatures. She has some major problems though. There has been a drug stolen from the safe, her hospital's license is about to be taken away and she has lost her powers.
Nothing is going right. Then a strong, handsome man named Nick is brought into her hospital because he has been turned into a vampire. It's now her job to help him to transition easily without getting too attached. There are instant sparks between them though, so it may not be easy.
This is a great story; very fast moving with compelling characters and storyline.
Case of the Bleus is the latest in the Cheese Shop Mystery Series. It's a cozy mystery about Willa who runs her own cheese shop called Curds and Whey. Her co-workers from her previous job come to town for the Cheese Invitational, which is a large cheese convention. Her previous boss Max has passed away, but he left a wheel of his famous cheese bleu. It's a blue cheese surrounded by mystery, as no one knows exactly how Max aged it or made it and everyone is waiting to see who Max gave the secret to before he died.
Someone is killed as everyone tries to learn the secret to the cheese and when the will is read and doesn't clear up the mystery, even more shenanigans begin. It's up to Willa and her friends at Curds and Whey to figure out who's involved.
I really enjoyed this book. Aleisha begins to work at the library and at first she's not happy about it, but when she meets a lonely widower named Mukesh, things begin to change. She finds a Reading List in a book and begins to recommend those books to Mukesh and also begins to read them herself.
Books have the power to change us and the way we see the world and they begin to change both Aleisha and Mukesh and also to create a powerful friendship between the two.
Alma is a demon-hunting witch with the Protectorate, but when she can't kill a suspected demon, they fire her. Each small town has their own Protectorate and when Tristan, the one for her small town gets killed, Alma tries to find out why and be whom.
Add to that a non-magical friend who won't stop talking, a gnome that lives in her yard, a father who's a criminal and a dog who just shows up and you have a cozy paranormal mystery that is interesting and fun.
Tilly is trying to run her shop when the health inspector dies from blunt force trauma in her shop. Now she's trying to prove not only that she didn't do it, but who did? She needs to get this all wrapped up so she has time to plan her favourite Uncle's wedding. There are also a lot of burgleries in her town, is it the same person as the murderer or someone different?
Cute cozy with interesting characters. I enjoyed Tilly's Uncle and the town itself.
This was a great introduction to the Cheese Shop Mysteries. Willa Bauer has opened her new cheese shop, Curds & Whey and she needs a good review from the food critic Guy Lippinger. Guy is brusque and full of himself and she's sure he is going to be less than kind in his review. So when he shows up dead with her cheese knife in him, she is considered the prime suspect.
This is a fun cozy with great characters and an interesting mystery. I gave it 3 1/2 stars rounded up to 4.
This story is about Frances McGrath who becomes an army surgical nurse during the Vietnam War and everything that she went through. Kristin Hannah did an amazing job with this novel. The research that must have went into it was incredible. From the time Frances (Frankie) touches down in Vietnam, you felt like you were actually there. She lands in a place where all the smells, sounds and activity are overwhelming and she really has no idea what she has gotten into.
In time, and with the help of her bunkmates, Ethel and Barb, she becomes an accomplished nurse and helps to save many lives. Meanwhile the world back home is becoming increasingly upset about the war and is lumping those who are serving in it, with the government decisions that are being made. Frankie starts to receive letters from home talking about protests and flag burning and combined with the work she's doing it is very disheartening.
The story follows some of the veterans from the time they began in Vietnam to what it is like when they come home, battered and bruised, both physically and emotionally. It talks about the PTSD that they suffered as well as the anger at a country they felt turned their back on them.
It was an incredibly emotional read and I laughed and cried throughout the book. I really couldn't put it down and became so involved in Frankie's story that I even dreamed about it. The best read of the year.
Thank you to Net Galley, the publisher and Ms. Hannah for providing me an ARC to this fascinating novel. Currently, this is set to come out in February of 2024.
Naomi moves to a small town with her teenage daughter Ella and before they even unpack they discover a dead body in their shed. They are invited into the neighbour's home for a cup of tea while they wait for the police to finish their investigation and end up staying there for several days.
Their neighbours Barbara and Ingrid are happy to have them and fill them in on all the neighbourhood gossip.
Eventually they move into their home and Naomi with the help of her daughter and the neighbours start to investigate. I found the book was a little too slow moving for me and I wasn't crazy about the mother/daughter relationship. At the end of the day I felt like I still hardly knew anything about the town and the people living there.
Lexy comes to live in her grandmother's home after her grandmother goes into assisted living. She meets her handsome next door neighbour Jack. When her ex-boyfriend Kevin is killed with one of her baked goods, she discovers that the handsome neighbour is a police detective.
It felt a little shorter than I would have liked, but I did enjoy when the main character Lexy went to visit her grandmother and discovered that she and her friends had formed the Ladies' Detective Agency and liked to solve mysteries. They each had an ipad and used it to check into various crimes. They decided to help Lexy solve the murder.
It was cute and the slow burn romance between Lexy and Jack was well done. I'm interested to read where the series goes.
Jacqueline Frost has quickly become an auto read as her stories are all top notch. This one starts with Holly's friend Caroline being manipulated by her parents into having dinner with Derek. Derek gets handsy and Caroline jumps up and makes a bit of a scene.
It quickly makes the news, but when Derek ends up dead, Caroline becomes a prime suspect and Holly gets involved trying to clear her friend's name.
The Reindeer Games are always fun and I love the small town characters and the Christmas atmosphere. The murder is always well thought out and it's just amazing writing.
The first in the Christmas Tree Farm Mysteries and it was terrific. Holly White has broken up with her fiance and she is back home in Mistletoe, Maine on her parents Christmas Tree Farm. As she is helping her mother in their cafe The Hearth, one of the members of the Historical Society is killed and the hot new police chief is looking at her family and friends as suspects.
Holly begins to ask questions and try to solve the crime, putting herself in danger and upsetting the police chief Evan who seems to have more than a passing interest in Holly.
The characters, the small town and the Christmas vibes are all cozy and so much fun. Put this one on your TBR!